Web application attacks are among the leading causes of data breaches, according to Verizon's 2015 Data Breach Investigations Report, which looked at data from 80,000 security incidents and over 2,000 confirmed data breaches in 61 countries. The report also found that weak or stolen credentials account for over 50 percent of breaches involving Web applications, and those in the financial services sector are favored targets for Web application attacks.

Statistics like that are enough to make anyone sit up and take note.

A new infographic from threat monitoring service provider Barricade dissects the 5 stages of a Web attack, offering explainers, insight into attacks from a hacker's point of view, and how your company can defend itself at each stage.

If you take away one thing from the infographic, let it be this, writes Barricade's Jack Leonard in a blog post: "With each stage passed the probability of remediating the attack and putting a stop to the hacker lessens exponentially."